Nabilah Safira
TechInAfrica – According to a GSMA report, there are approximately 1.2 registered internationally mobile money accounts. 560-million of these registered accounts are in Africa. Representing some mobile network companies, the GSMA announced that Sub-Saharan Africa has been at the front line of the mobile money industry for more than a decade, and in 2020 kept on representing most of the development.
FinTech Unicorns Running Wild in Africa
There are five African financial technologies recognized as “unicorns” by investors, the media company, and analysts following the rise of mobile payment. They are Flutterwave, ChipperCash, Interswitch, Paga, and OPay.
After closing a funding series of $170-million, Flutterwave reached a price of $1-billion in March 2021. For the moment, in June 2021, Chipper Cash gained an investment of $100-million from Jeff Bezos’ private business capital fund.
On the other side, more than $1-billion was also received by three other fintech companies: Interswitch, Paga, and OPay. It makes them earning the name of the legendary horned monster that is the moniker of such bizarrely huge valuations.
The things that power the tremendous motion of digital transactions are convenience, security, and trust together with the prevalent penetration of affordable mobile feature phones on the continent. Money used to be ruler in Africa but dealing with and banking money has gotten less secure, which is the cause merchants, business people, and customers are using mobile applications.
Affordable smartphones currently have become a choice for many people to process their banking and move their money safely and affordably. Various services are available to do in smartphones, such as sending and receiving money, buying goods and services online, paying taxes and school fees, buying airtime, taking out loans, and even starting and running businesses (or running an e-commerce operation from social media like Facebook and Instagram).
By 2025, the African mobile market is predicted by analysts to have 850-million clients who manage rushes of $2.5-trillion to $3-trillion in exchange volumes yearly.
Source: Itnewsafrica.com
